So you’ve started up a business. If you’re reading this article, you’re probably at the stage where you’re ready to set up a website, but might not know where to start. That’s where we come in! Starting up a website for your business can be a daunting task, especially when you aren’t sure where to begin. From the design, through to using an online plagiarism checker just to be sure your content is completely original, there is a lot to think about. We’ve decided to pull just a few together to give you a good place to start.

Domain and Host

Picking the domain and host for your site is the first, but arguably most important, thing to consider when starting up your website. Your domain is the first thing someone will see when searching for your services, and can say so much about you and your brand in only a couple of words – maybe even just one! Your domain needs to be memorable, but reflect your brand’s voice. When picking a host, you need to consider the nature of your business and the site you want to create. Is it going to be media rich? Or full of text? Will it be simple, or more complicated? Do you have technical knowledge, or do you need a host that is simple to use? All of this needs to be taken into account when looking for a host!

Backend Services – CMS

Any great website needs some kind of programme taking care of Backend Services. This is essentially what runs your website! Your website can be as visually stunning as you like, but without a CMS supporting it, it simply won’t function properly. Magento can work wonders if you’re looking to create an e-commerce site, while WordPress is the perfect CMS for informational sites. It’s easy to use for beginners, while giving you pretty much everything you need to keep a site up and running.

Design

This is where the fun part comes into play – well, if design doesn’t make you want to tear your hair out, of course. The design of your site is the backbone to user experience of your site, so getting it right is vital. A clean, easily navigable website will give your users a better, smoother experience, all while selling your brand to them. A confusing, hard to navigate website could increase your bounce rate – or, in short, how many times users click onto your site, and click straight back off again. You need to sell your brand through your website, so make sure to incorporate any colour schemes, fonts or any other kind of branding you’ve built up for your business. It needs to be original, and relevant to you!

Call to Action

Friendly call-to-actions can work wonders for your website. A ‘call to action’ is an encouragement for your users and potential customers to take action. For example, ‘contact us today!’ is a gentle push for visitors to get in touch with your business, and can put across the message that you want to develop relationships with your customers. Make sure not to get too pushy, and ensure that every call to action is relevant to the level of engagement with your company that a customer could have. For example, new customers could be encouraged to sign up for a newsletter, while returning customers could be suggested a loyalty programme.

SEO

Search Engine Optimisation is important for every business’ website. Encouraging the right SEO practices on your website, from optimised content through to regular activity on a blog, can all help push your site up to the first page of Google for your chosen keywords. This can be as simple as ensuring your keywords are in your content, or cleaning up your website’s code to be SEO friendly. For those that aren’t technically knowledgeable, coding can be difficult, but certain CMS services offer clean up within their tools or services, so it’s worth looking around to see what each can do for your business and website!